


They do be stealing tho

by Mx_Jules



Category: Original Work
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:26:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24769249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mx_Jules/pseuds/Mx_Jules
Summary: uwu
Kudos: 1





	They do be stealing tho

**Author's Note:**

> i'm here to give some context
> 
> etruyia is a country at war. so called revolutionaries fight against the oppressive monarchy. it started a year ago. 
> 
> jandi: a 16 year old guy. ran away from his hometown when the war started. was on the side of the revolutionaries 
> 
> warely: immortal (150 year old) guy. kind of a walking attraction/legend in etruyia. he helps people out bc he's nice (example: he visits the orphaned children in the canyon and brings them rations) but he's kind of a wild card
> 
> this story is set in the past and details how jandi and warely met. in the present story jandi is 23 and warely 158 and they're friends and the war is over

he's sitting on a small log, his back against a barn, in a foreign town, looking at the stars.

it's perfect if you ask him, although it is cold, almost unbearably so. but not enough for jandi to start a fire. then again, he doesn't know if he's allowed to, the family the barn belongs to only allowed him a place to stay the night -- namely a stack of hay in that barn -- and he doesn't want to push his boundaries. he also doesn't want to burn down their farm.

as he's looking at the night sky, wondering what tomorrow may hold, he hears a voice to his side. "psst." 

jandi doesn't know how he didn't jump out of his skin, if he's honest. he turns his head towards the voice, seeing a man peek around the edge of the wall he's leaning against. he doesn't recognise him, although something tells him he should, and he's kind of taken aback by his appearance. the bright clothes, brighter hair and weird face paint basically scream for attention, and he wonders why this guy even attempts to be stealthy when he looks like that.

"are you busy?" comes something of a whisper shout.

"uh.. i guess not." something makes jandi stand up to walk closer to the man. "do you need help?"

"you could say that." his mouth twists into a smile, although it's not a nice one. in fact, it reeks of scheming. "would you be so kind as to spare an hour of your time?" 

"that depends entirely on what you want from me." 

"hey, relax, it's nothing bad. i just need someone tall to give me a boost. and as you've proven, even without my prompting, you're the perfect height." 

that explanation doesn't make him feel any better, if it even counts as an explanation. he doesn't feel like the stranger cleared anything up. still, he's nothing if not a pushover, and he'd feel somewhat bad to refuse, even if he can feel in his stomach that this won't turn out good.

"okay. i'll help you."

"you're a saint. okay, come on." 

they round the corner and walk along the main street of the town. that is to say, it's the busiest street during the day, with market stalls and all sorts of people, but he's pretty sure the main street is somewhere else. it's familiar enough to jandi not to question where they're going, for a while, until a few more turns have them stop at a rather large estate. the windows are mainly dark, with no sign of life anywhere, though that may be because it's rather late at night, and not because its residents are away. still, jandi can already feel his heart sink.

"you're not making me help you rob the place, are you?"

"how could you accuse me of such things!" the man feigns shock, but his face quickly reverts back to a lazy smile. it doesn't make jandi feel any better. "well, i guess you're partly right. i'm not taking anything valuable. but i suppose that's still considered stealing, isn't it?" 

"it is."

"drat. ah, i guess it can't be avoided. but don't worry, you just have to stand here and look innocent. ready to make use of that height advantage?" 

jandi wants to tell him that no one is forcing him to rob that house, but he can tell that any argument wouldn't persuade this guy. so instead, he links he fingers together and cups his hands.

"oh, no, i don't need that." he swats jandi's hands away, and then he sighs when he receives a questioning look. "the windows are gonna be locked? i need to sit on your shoulders to pry them open. reaching the window isn't the issue." 

jandi glances up. the windows are pretty far above the ground, but he doesn't want to ask why this man can climb that high. instead he nods and turns around, bracing himself for the other's weight. which, he realises, didnt need to. he's surprisingly light. 

"there we are." he hears him say. "okay, a bit to your left."

as he's standing there, in the dark, again, in a foreign town, this strange guy on his shoulders, he starts to wonder what he did wrong in life to end up in a situation like this. but he supposes it could be worse. as long as they don't get caught. speaking of that.

"hey, i don't think you told me your name."

"what an astute observation!" he doesn't say anything else though, which slightly irritates jandi.

"i just thought it would be fair if you told me, so i can blame this entire thing on you should a guard see us. you did rope me into this."

"i did no such thing! you offered to help, kind soul that you are."

"that was before i knew you were robbing a house." 

"all you had to do was ask." 

"and you would have told me? honestly?"

he stops whatever he was doing for a moment. "alright, you got me. my name is warely." 

jandi pauses at that. "like that immortal man?"

"the one and only. should i be offended you only recognise me by name and not by appearance?"

he opted to ignore his question, now that his curiosity was piqued. "why would someone like you resort to thievery?"

"just because a bunch people know who i am doesn't mean i'm some celebrity. i'm mot exactly swimming in money, not that that's what i'm after." 

"but doesn't that make this whole thing even riskier?"

"and where's the fun in life without some adventure?"

"there's a war going on. plenty of risk for you to choose without being petty."

"and i said i wanted adventure, not death." he stops talking and jandi hears something clatter and then sees it falling to the ground. "got it. step closer to the wall?"

considering the fact that he's sitting on jandi's shoulders, he hoists himself up and into the open window surprisingly elegantly. he can hear a soft thud, probably too quiet to wake anyone if there really are people in the house, and then warely sticks his head out again. "do you want anything?

jandi looks at him, dumbfounded. "what?"

"do you want me to steal something for you now that i'm already inside?" he speaks really slowly, as if talking to a child, and jandi would be more annoyed if he wasn't so surprised. "i thought you might want to be repaid for helping me out."

"oh. no thank you?"

"if you say so. but i suppose that means you may take your leave." 

"you're not gonna need help getting down?"

warely scoffs, but he's smiling, so it comes across as arrogant more than anything to jandi. "a jump from this height won't kill me. now run along, you law abiding citizen." 

he disappears back into the house, but jandi stays behind to stare at the window for a good few minutes afterwards. he's trying to understand what just happened, and he's not really sure he can grasp it. so eventually, he walks back to the barn he came from, feeling very perplexed. 

\--‐--------------------------------

\------------------------------------

he doesn't see warely again until half a year later. he's in a different town, and he has a horse now, so he's made it pretty far into etruyia and away from the south border. people feel really different here, but he kind of likes it. he's also started selling or trading interesting trinkets or objects he found along his way. he didn't expect people to be so enthusiastic about it, but it proves to be fruitful business. 

sometimes he can't believe it's only been a year, considering how much his life changed.

jandi is rummaging through his small backpack when a familiar voice calls out to him. "if it isn't my oh so trusted partner in crime. what are the chances?"

he looks up to see warely's grinning voice, the sun behind him framing his face makes it look like he has some sort of halo. 

"i would bet my money that you deliberately followed me."

"and only make my presence known after six months have passed? you don't seem to know me well."

"that might be because you're the most secretive person in etruyia, even if your name gets around a lot."

"all part of my charm."

"sure."

warely tilts his head. "you know, you're kind of a hypocrite. you practically begged me to tell you my name, and yet i never learned yours."

"you didnt ask. and i only wanted to know who you were so i'd be able to tell the guards to arrest you." 

"which you didn't do, even though you had plenty of time."

"you're right, i didn't."

warely smiles at him, a little too wide, but still sincerely. "my name is jandi." he says eventually. 

"jandi." warely repeats, as if testing it out. "kind of a weird name. then again, i'd say you're a weird person in general."

"says the man wearing pink overalls."

"and what about it? if your only insults are about my appearance, you need to up your game." 

"you're a thief."

"oh, i am devastated. i fear the end is coming soon." 

jandi rolls his eyes, but he's not really annoyed. "did you need something?"

"what, you're offering your help again?have i tempted you to the dark side? next we meet, i might have to be afraid that you propose we rob a house." 

"i never robbed a house, if you recall-"

"but you helped."

"-and if you can't tell, i'm selling stuff. i was asking if you wanted to buy, or do i need to ask you to leave? you're certainly not attracting more customers with your presence." 

warely does something weird with his face, which jandi can only interpret as pouting, but he quickly regains his composure again. "and what are you selling, merchant?"

"household items, seeds, oh, i've got some fresh fruit and silverware, and this lady traded me some jewelry for a small decorative horse figure-"

"that all sounds terribly exciting, but i think i won't be buying any of that."

"pity." 

warely hums. "isnt it dull, though? sitting here all day?"

"it's how i make my living."

"yeah, but it's boring. and hey, if it's money you want, i think i have a more exciting proposition." 

"i'm not helping you break into another house."

"i wasn't asking you to. don't look so sceptical. come on, it'll be fun! or do i have to steal your backpack to get you to follow me?" 

"you're kind of insufferable, do you know that?" but he was standing up anyway, retrieving his things and following warely. 

again, he seems to lead jandi through the town as if he lives there, only to end up at some obscure location not even the shadiest people would want to be at. they had walked through so many back alleys that jandi isn't sure he'd find his way back without help, which means he really is stuck with warely. again, he had led him to a house, but this one is very obviously left behind to rot.

"didn't you say it wouldn't be a house?"

"i said we weren't breaking into a house. you need to listen more closely."

"but it's still unlawful entry. this isn't our property."

"you're right, it's no one's property anymore. or do you really think anyone lives here anymore?"

"that's not how property works."

"fascinating. anyway, are you coming or not?" he doesn't wait for him to answer, and just marches right into the house through a broken in window. jandi is half expecting to hear a crash, because there is no way the floor isn't completely rotten, but no such noise comes. so he follows warely inside.

"enlighten me, what are we doing here?"

"treasure hunting."

"...how long as this house been empty?"

"oh, probably close to fifty years."

"then what makes you think there's any treasure left to get? surely there were people before us."

"naturally, but they didn't have the mind of someone whose lived for a hundred years too long!" 

"i think that might have played out in their favour." warely huffed. "anyway, what kind of treasure?" 

"interested, are you? well, it's rumoured that there's a secret basement underneath the house, full of gold and... whatever boring people consider treasure. but, supposedly, there are also old scrolls with information about the ground towers." 

"here. in this rotten house's basement. in a little town in the middle of nowhere." 

"exactly."

"are you planning to give those scrolls to the revolutionaries?"

"hm? oh sure, yeah, of course. but first i'd like to look at them myself. for a while." 

"so giving them to people so they can gain an advantage over the oppressive monarchy wasn't your plan? you just want to.. have them for yourself."

"oh, you make it sound so evil. i'm trying to be a neutral party in this, i can't just give confidential information to whoever i want simply because i have it." 

"you're not part of the revolutionaries?"

"i just said i'm neutral."

"yeah but.. even you have to favour a side, like, inwardly."

warely furrowed his brows. "i don't really care for this war, to be completely transparent. it's a waste of resources. and anyway, i don't want to talk about it. if it's so important to you, i'll give you the scrolls when we run into each other again and then you can give them to whoeve you want." 

"oh- i- i don't-" warely's laugh interrupts him.

"now you're just proving my point. you're a hypocrite-"

"i hate you."

"-not that i can hold it against you." he gives him a smile. "let's finally start finding this basement." 

he still isn't exactly on board with looking through a dusty old house full of spider webs, he also doesn't want to just stand around and mope. plus, he is kind of curious about those scrolls. so they search this house, very thoroughly. almost uncomfortably so, jandi thinks, as he sifts through a drawer that once held someone's belongings. he feels kind of bad about it.

and then warely calls out to him. turns out there are some loose floorboards under the bed in the servants room which lead down a flight of stairs. it's extremely dark.

"you don't happen to have a candle or something, do you?" warely asks as he looks down the stairs. 

he knows he does, and he finds it easily enough in his backpack. it's partially burned down, but it's all he has. he picks up a match and lights the candle.

"i guess it'll have to do." there's the slightest hint of excitement in warely's voice as he beckons him to follow. 

surprisingly, there are no further obstacles between them and the basement. that makes jandi think that there's no treasure after all, or that it's a trap. warely seems to think the same thing, but doesn't voice his concerns.

the candle does little to illuminate the space in front of them, but even so jandi can see that there's little that's noteworthy. there are plenty of books littered on the floor though, which confuses him.

he picks one up. it's a history book about etruyia. the next one has myths about the gods.

"are you sure there's anything of worth here?" 

"well, even if there are no scrolls, you should be able to sell those books." 

"but that's not what you came here for." 

"always one to state the obvious. maybe there's another door down here." 

warely moving away from him practically forces him to follow, only so he doesn't have to stand in complete darkness. by some miracle, jandi finds a torch, and holds it out to warely to light it. after that he goes back to those books. he doesn't think he'll find the scrolls there, but the books looked interesting on their own.

he picks up a few, in the end. most of them are history books, and with all the schools being destroyed they might prove to be useful in the future, but some others are accounts, some journals, and some fairy tails, and he wonders who this person was who kept all these books.

it's only when he sees it that he realises how obvious that handle is. it's right next to the bookcase, and somewhat disguised as a torch holder, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out you can twist it.

"hey, warely, i think i found that door you were talking about."

with how quickly he is next to him, one might assume he's been hovering behind jandi this whole time, even if he could swear he was across the room just a moment ago. "look at that. i'm starting to regret taking you with me a little less." 

"have i mentioned that i don't like you?"

"you have. but keep saying it, i think i like it." he moves past him to twist the handle, and the wall behind the bookcase -- along with the bookcase -- rotates ninety degrees to open up a small passageway to walk through. jandi doesn't need to look at warely to know he's grinning. without another word, he slips past him and through the walls, and jandi follows. 

"this is what i'm talking about! have you ever seen a room that looks more like it held royal secrets?"

he supposes not, although he had imagined something different. the rooms looks.. just like a regular study. there's a desk in the left corner, another bookcase and an armchair. in front of it is a little rug with a coffee table. 

still, with how much it's hidden, he agrees that it's obvious that someone wanted to keep something private here.

the drawers of the desk are locked, which doesn't stop warely, who shoves the candle into jandi's hands to drop down and start picking the locks. it takes a while, but eventually he can slide them open. the first two don't hold much of interest, although jandi kind of wants to look at those personal letters, but the third drawer apparently contains something warely finds incredibly interesting.

"well, it's less of a scroll and more of a bunch of ripped off pages, but i can work with that."

"about the ground towers?"

"yes, but not just physical descriptions. these are blueprints."

"why would they be here, though?"

warely shrugs. "this town is small enough to be inconspicuous. maybe they thought these were save here, but clearly they didn't expect us." 

"clearly."

"so, merchant boy, anything else you want to take?"

"no. after all, those massive amounts of gold you promised aren't here." 

"they must have been in the other room. but, as you so wisely said, there were others here before us. they probably took what they could get and didn't care about the rest."

"still, i would have liked to have some extra money for a room tonight."

warely rolls his eyes. "you're young, i'm sure your back can handle sleeping on the ground."

"it's more that i don't want an army of soldiers to trample me in my sleep as they attack this town."

"and that army would still get to you if you had a room."

"i guess."

"more importantly, where are you gonna go next? i need to know where to find you if you really want these papers so badly."

"i don't really know? i usually just follow the road and see where i end up."

"poetic. but i'm afraid that description is a little too vague for me."

"i can't tell you more than that. but maybe we can just meet here again in three months? this town i mean, not necessarily this basement."

"works for me. and while we're here, might i make a suggestion?"

"sure, hit me."

"you should dye your hair something more exciting."


End file.
